Flower bouquet hid knife in traveler’s carry-on at Sea-Tac Airport, TSA agents say
Here’s one bouquet that no one wants to catch.
Transportation Security Administration agents at Washington’s Sea-Tac Airport caught a traveler trying to sneak a knife past security by hiding it in a bouquet of flowers, a photo released by a TSA spokeswoman shows.
The knife was found July 23 as a TSA officer performed a routine screening on a flier’s carry-on baggage at the Puget Sound area airport, according to TSA.
The knife was very much against the rules.
“Knives of any type or size, hidden or not, aren’t allowed through the security checkpoint,” Lorie Dankers, a spokesperson for the TSA, wrote Thursday on Twitter.
So what happens when TSA catches a traveler with contraband such as a knife?
In another tweet on Thursday, Dankers explained that “in case you are wondering, the traveler who concealed this knife in the flower stems will be subject to a civil penalty levied by the TSA.”
For better or worse, TSA and customs agents are used to making odd discoveries while searching travelers’ luggage at checkpoints around the United States and abroad.
Animals, alive or dead, are found more commonly than one might expect: Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection discovered a roasted pig head in luggage at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, McClatchy newsgroup reported. And earlier in 2018, a Florida couple was reportedly caught trying to fly with a cat in their checked baggage in January — an attempt that TSA gently described as “not the recommended way” to travel with a pet.
This year, agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City stopped a Connecticut man who allegedly had 34 live singing finches in his baggage, and Canadian agents stopped a flier in late 2018 because he illegally smuggled 5,000 bloodsucking leeches into the country — for which he was fined $15,000, McClatchy newsgroup reported in May.
But not all bizarre carry-ons are illegal, as a traveler learned firsthand in April at Alaska’s Juneau International Airport.
“Yes, you can bring moose poop to a checkpoint!” a TSA spokesperson said, sharing a photo of agents inspecting the traveler’s baggie of animal droppings.
This story was originally published August 2, 2019 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Flower bouquet hid knife in traveler’s carry-on at Sea-Tac Airport, TSA agents say."
